I have this bit extension for drills that accepts hexagonal bits…the beauty of this particular piece is that it possesses a sleeve which slides up towards the point of a screw, preventing it from wobbling when starting the threads. I’m certain you may have seen them. I happen to have had this particular one for decades.

The issue: I’d love to pick another one or two up but cannot find them because I’m not certain what the correct terminology is for it. Anyone have any ideas?

I love this thing…absolutely love it. It’s awesome in so many ways. I also like it for electrical work when needing to reach inside of deeper, metallic junction boxes and running self tapping 5/16” hex head screws into trusses, etc; The sleeve slides up alongside my magnetized 5/16” bit and snugs it up, preventing it from wobbling…therefore giving me the rigidity and anti-wobble I need to start the screws. Very nice.

10 replies so far

I’ve seen them referred to as “drive guides”, although there may be other names as well. I have 2, a DeWalt & a Hitachi that came with a set of bits. I agree that they’re very useful, and in many applications, just what you need.

Most of those shown are bit holders. He is looking for something that will hold the screw straight while trying to drive the screw at a distance. The Hitachi 115003 Magnetic Driver Bit screw holder is not the same tool that he has but it functions as he wants a tool to do. The second link in my post #2 holds the screw firmly at the end of an extension by a powerful magnet.

I have ordered a two pack of the two sizes of square and the two sizes of phillips head drives as well. I had to order them at Lowes as no one around here had them and Lowes was the only one who would get them for me and not charge me shipping. Plus I get my 10% veteran discount. Here is what I ordered.

Yes, some of those mentioned are indeed just a ‘simple extension’ as Larry has highlighted. They don’t possess the sliding sleeve function. The other links point to ones that have the sliding sleeve. The weird thing is, I have looked right over these before, while in Lowes and at some hardware stores on a few occasions, because I was thinking the ones made by Dewalt were just a simple bit extension and didn’t offer the sliding function. Then again, I wasn’t looking specifically for one during those times, so I didn’t inspect more closely.

One of the links at Amazon (this Drive Guide) has the functionality but doesn’t explicitly mention it, either in the shorter or longer item description. I had to read through the reviews left to find that information. Weird that wouldn’t be mentioned, that’s the key element.